As a child, I remember visiting Charleston, SC and seeing horses with blinders on. I thought it was quite cruel for the horses to only be able to see forward unless they turned their heads! How could humans do this to the animal?
But aren’t we too like a horse with blinders when we are in a situation? When things are going bad at work, we only see all the negativity. When a marriage is turning sour we only taste the lemons. On the flip side, have you ever noticed how when you first fall in love, they can do no wrong? Every single thing is absolutely adorable.
Blinders can prevent us from moving forward, out of the fear of what lies ahead.
A few years ago I wrote Please Send Someone Else about Moses who was, quite frankly, coming up with every excuse to not do what God was asking of him. One word, relatable. Moses had on his blinders which included all of his shortcomings and every excuse to just keep trending the field of his father-in-laws flock.
But God never leaves us blinded, He sends help.
As I was reading Exodus again, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. Instead of God continuing to try and convince Moses, He agreed to send help.
14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” Exodus 4:14-17
Looking back on my own stubbornness in obedience, there is a pattern; He sends help.
A quick funny story, at one point in my college years I was dating a guy my mother did not find attractive. I tried explaining to her that it was his personality that made him cute. Her response was, “If you marry him you won’t remember his personality when you wake up to him each morning. So you better marry someone cute!”
That may not have been “help” directly from God, but thankful for the advice.
In all seriousness, when I ran from the calling to write HOPE for ten years God placed in my life an editor. I had no idea, until we started a friendship. Now I know without Jessica, the books would not exist because I would have given up a long time ago! Writing and publishing is hard!
God knew I needed help, otherwise my blinders of inadequacy would have won.
Multiple times the voice of homeschool has rang in my ears. But then the sound of sanity would ring louder. Slowly, one by one, friends who I have trusted for years began to homeschool. I publicly rejoiced with them but secretly thought they had lost their minds. Until my mind and the situation of Covid threw me into the homeschool life. Without my friends Brooke and Ericka, I would not have been lost and threw in the towel after year one.
Are your blinders focusing you towards or away from Jesus? Just like a horse with blinders, we sometimes need a little help to guide us in the right direction and to encourage us to keep moving. Who has God sent to be your help?
Be advised, your help is still a human who sins. Just as Aaron eventually leads the Israelites to worship a golden calf (amongst other things), we woo can be lead astray.
If our blinders focus on Jesus we can trust our help.
